Inspiration from Saint Carlo Acutis

This week, we reflect on the inspiring story of Carlo Acutis, a young man who has been called the “patron saint of the internet generation.”

Carlo was only 15 when he died of leukaemia in 2006. In many ways, he was like any other teenager: he loved soccer, video games, and spending time with friends. He was funny, friendly, and down-to-earth. What made him extraordinary, however, was the way he used his ordinary life and gifts to share his faith.

Carlo had a particular talent with computers. Instead of using this ability for himself alone, he created a website documenting Eucharistic miracles from around the world to help others grow closer to God. His personal motto was simple but powerful: “Not me, but God.” He believed that holiness was not about perfection or being “boring,” but about placing God at the centre of everyday life, whether on the soccer field, online, or at school.

Carlo is a model for young people today. Carlo challenges us to reflect:

• How am I using my gifts?
• Do I spend my time building up myself and others, or do I waste it on things that don’t last?
• Am I choosing love, even in the small, everyday moments?

Carlo often reminded people that:
 “All people are born originals, but many die as photocopies.”
His message is clear: don’t settle for being the same as everyone else. Instead, use the unique gifts God has given you to make a difference.

Our students have been challenged to take inspiration from Carlo’s example:

• Be original.
• Use your gifts for good.
• Put God at the centre of your life.

Saint Carlo’s story reminds us that holiness is possible at any age. Who knows, perhaps the next saint is sitting in one of our classrooms right now.

Announcing our Year 12 2026 Student Leadership Team

Over the past month, we have undertaken our recruitment and discernment process for the Year 12 2026 Student Leaders. This process included student applications, a leadership training day, student and staff voting, shortlisting, and interviews.

In what was a highly talented field of young leaders, it gives me great pleasure to announce our 2026 Year 12 Student Leadership Team:

• School Captains: Bella Brennan and Ethan Thompson
  
  
• School Vice Captains: Amelia Dimitrievski and Tasman Rippon
  
  
• Sports Captains: Cate Mansbridge and Caiden Judd
  
  
• Environment Leaders: Emily Daly and Tamara Frendo
  
  
• Operations Leaders: Kelsey May and Prardhana Sreejith
  
  
• Inclusive Leaders: Katelyn Blissett and Mondre Gella
  
  
• Learning Education Leaders: Abbey Yau, Oliver Farrugia, and Isabella Micovski
  
  
• Wellbeing Leaders: Mia Tarlinton and Chelsea Whalan
  
  
• SRC Leaders: Shakira Buys, Declan Lake, Jordan Toseski, Noah Jewiss, Aiden McEwan, Tyler Morris, Lola Garcia, Samuelu Lautasi, Latisha Akuoko, and Alphons Lijoy
  
  

Congratulations to each of these students. We pray that you will serve with integrity, inspire your peers through courage and compassion, and lead with humility.

Bishops Excellence Award Recipient

Last week, I had the privilege of presenting Chloe Norris to Bishop Brian Mascord and Executive Director of Schools Mr Peter Hill as St Joseph’s nominee for the Bishop’s Excellence Award.

This award recognises Chloe’s outstanding service and contribution to the St Joseph’s community over the past six years. Congratulations, Chloe, and thank you for the way you have shared your gifts with our school.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Graduation Mass

Also last week, I attended the Bishop’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Graduation Mass held at the Cathedral. St Joseph’s was proudly represented by Abbey Bartley and Tasha Moylan.

It was a beautiful Mass that intertwined Aboriginal culture with Catholic tradition. Our students were presented with Graduation Certificates and enjoyed a shared lunch with the Bishop and students from other diocesan schools.

Workplace Learning Illawarra Vocational Education and Training Awards

On Wednesday night, I was joined by Mr Dribbus, Mr Milburn, and Mr Gilbert to celebrate seven outstanding St Joseph’s students who were nominated for the Workplace Learning Illawarra VET Awards by either the school or their host employers.

In a gala event at Kembla Grange Golf Club attended by nearly 200 guests, St Joseph’s once again demonstrated why our Vocational Education and Training program is held in such high regard across the region.

Certificate of Excellence Awards were presented to:

• Chloe Styman
  
  
• Ethan Field
  
  
• Luke Beesley
  
  
• Heidi Colless
  
  
• Alexis Villella
  
  
• Tasha Moylan
  
  
• Rhianna Trajkovska
  
  

A special congratulations to Ethan Field, who was named the 2025 VET Student of the Year – Construction. This is a remarkable achievement and a credit to his dedication and hard work.

Finally, my sincere thanks go to our exceptional VET Team,  Mr Milburn, Mr Gilbert, Mr Ferderer, Mr Dribbus, and Mr Maguire, for their ongoing commitment to supporting our students in both their learning and workplace experiences.

Fortnightly Focus - Weeks 9 and 10

At St Joseph’s, we want every student to finish the term strong by showing commitment to their learning and pride in their presentation.

Learning Focus
Students are encouraged to demonstrate sustained and diligent effort with their class tasks. Consistency and persistence make a big difference, especially as we approach the end of term. Our classes will be working hard all the way through to the final day.

Uniform Focus
With the change of season approaching, please ensure your Summer Uniform is ready for Term 4. This includes checking that girls’ skirt lengths meet requirements, making sure the correct shoes and socks are worn, and finding your school hat for those hot summer days.

Character Strength – Perseverance
This fortnight, our character strength is Perseverance. It’s about sticking with challenges, even when things are tough, and recognising the growth that comes from not giving up.

Together, let’s keep striving for high expectations, high support, and high accountability – The Joey’s Way.

Farewell

This week, we farewell Mrs Lorrae Taylor, who has served as our Curriculum SSO for a number of years. We thank Lorrae for her dedication and commitment to supporting learning and teaching at St Joseph’s. Her contribution has been deeply valued, and she will be missed by staff and students alike.

We also extend our best wishes to Mrs Eliza Hunt and Mrs Melanie Lewry, as they commence parental leave at the conclusion of this week. Congratulations, and we look forward to welcoming both ladies back in the future and can’t wait to hear their happy news.

Farewell

To begin with we need to say a sad farewell to Mrs Taylor who will be finishing up at St Joseph’s next week. Mrs Taylor has worked in the Curriculum Office for the past 3 years supporting students with ensuring they meet the NESA requirements for the HSC andRoSA, setting up exam periods, Parent/Teacher Interviews, subject selectionhandbooks and assessment manuals for each year group, catching up missed exams/assessments and also issuing the odd N Warning where required. 

Her care and concern for students has always been well received and the students will no doubt miss her smiling face in the curriculum office. We thank her for her efforts and support during her time at St Joseph’s and wish her well in her new career path.

Stage 6 AI Workshop

Earlier this week students spent time with IT staff from the CEO looking at AI tools - specifically Notebook LM and Gemini. These are platforms that students can access while enrolled at CEO schools. The purpose of the workshops was to show students how these platforms can be used to support their home study program as well as further develop their knowledge and understanding of concepts they may be covering in their courses.

The workshops were generally well received with students appreciating the power of AI to do more than just write essays/complete questions etc. Students are encouraged to consider where and how these powerful tools can best be applied to support their learning and preparation for upcoming exams. We hope to follow this up with Yr 10 and staff early next term.

Year 12

A busy couple of weeks for Year 12. Last week a number of universities issued their early entry offers. Once again a large number of St Joseph’s students were fortunate enough to be given offers to a range of courses. While this is great news it can also be challenging as students can tend to ‘ease off’ their preparations knowing that a place at university is potentially secured. To this end we had a year meeting where we discussed the importance of finishing the journey that we have started.

Final HSC results are determined by the performance of the whole class in each subject compared to other classes around the state. Each students result can impact other students results positively or negatively and so to that end it is important that students continue with their diligent approach and work collaboratively to support each other right until the end.

To keep things fresh this week students have taken part in intensive 2-3hr workshops for each of their subjects. This is a means by which we can use the time to really explore the concepts that students need that final support with as the push towards final HSC exams begins. Students are to be commended on their willingness to engage in this process and the class teachers are thanked for the time and effort that they have put into creating these learning activities.

Year 11 Yearly Exams

Year 11 yearly exams begin next week and continue for the remaining two weeks of the term. Students have their exam schedules and also have flexible attendance during this time. We wish them well as they prepare for this final step of Year 11 before embarking on their own HSC journeys from the start of Term 4.

Yr 9 and 10 2026 Electives

Students moving to Yrs 9-11 in 2026 will receive confirmation of their elective choices by early Week 9. We ask that parents review the choices and once confirmed sign the notification and return it to the curriculum office by the end of the term as a record of acceptance. Students places in elective classes will not finalised until the offer of acceptance is returned. Please ensure this is completed to avoid missing out on places in allocated classes.

Minimum Standards Tests

We will be running another round of minimum standards tests in Week 10. Students in Years 10/11 are asked to check their students online account to determine which tests they still need to complete. Students needing to complete any of the three tests will be emailed with the dates these tests are running. Students in Year 11 will have the opportunity to complete the tests on the last day of term and are encouraged to use this time to avoid missing valuable class time at the start of Year 12 courses.

Year 11 Cookery

Year 11 Cookery have completed their last practical lesson for Term 3. The students made Bang Bang Noodles with chilli vinigarette, steamed bok choy and shalotts. The class learnt some new noodle making skills, boiling, steaming and frying methods as well.

Year 12 Food Tech 

Year 12 Food Tech have now completed their last practical lesson with a spread of Butter Chicken, Dumplings and Chocolate Mousse.

On Thursday 4th September Year 7 went on an excursion to Symbio Wildlife Park as part of their current biology topic 'Cells and Classification'. 

Students started the day with a private reptile show where they were able to pet a range of different reptiles, including a snake and an alligator and learnt all about how they have adapted to survive.  Guided by expert rangers, students were then taken around the park where they learnt all about the breadth of living things in our world, how we classify animals, how animals have evolved to become adapted to their habitats and the importance of zoos in conservation efforts to help the survival of our local Australian species. 

Highlights of the day included handfeeding kangaroos and some very greedy goats!  Overall a great day out!

Recent News and Events

Early Admission Offers Released - September 2025

Congratulations to our Year 12 students who have received university early admission offers over the past fortnight. With offers from leading institutions such as the University of Wollongong (UOW), Australian National University (ANU), and Macquarie University (MQ), the vast majority of our cohort have now secured places in their preferred courses for 2026.

Students who have received early admission offers are still able to apply for other courses through the University Admissions Centre (UAC), keeping their options open for the end of the year. Those who did not receive an offer to their preferred course also have the opportunity to reapply for it through the UAC process. A guide to completing your UAC application can be accessed by clicking this LINK.

For more information and guidance around the university application process please reach out to Mr Morley.

UOW Year 11 Information Session

On Wednesday, 10 September, James Terry, from the University of Wollongong, visited the Year 11 cohort to discuss upcoming events, namely: UOW Summer Master Class 2026 and UOW Discovery Days in 2026, while also emphasising the significance of the Year 11 Preliminary Exams, which play a key role in determining eligibility for Early Admission offers in 2027

Applications for the UOW Summer Master Classes open on Monday 15 September - Sunday 26 October 2025. Students may click on this LINK to express their interest in attending. More details to come.

Apprenticeship Success

Congratulations to Year 10 students Cooper Hill and Rhys Braley for securing apprenticeship / traineeship positions. Both Cooper and Rhys are hardworking, diligent young men who have embraced multiple work experience opportunities over the past 12 months. They are motivated, well-prepared, and eager to enter the workforce with energy and enthusiasm. These roles align perfectly with their ambition, skills, and strong work ethic.

The Joeys community is proud of their achievement and wishes them every success in this exciting next chapter.

Year 12 Step Into Teaching Scholarship Applications

This scholarship opportunity is aimed at Year 12 Students interested in Primary or Secondary teaching. Successful Scholarship students receive:

•  Total benefit of $20,000 distributed over a 4 year period- $5,000 per year
•  Paid SSO employment for the first 3 years (1 day per week in a CEDoW school)
•  An indentured full-time teaching position in the Dioceses upon completion of the  course
•  An academic mentor for support
•  Spiritual development and support throughout the degree.

 Click on the LINK to apply. Application period - 8 August to 19 September 2025.

 For more information, please contact Mr Morley via email.

Careers_Newsletter_Term_3_Week_8_2025.pdf

Careers_Newsletter_Term_3_Week_8_2025 _pdf 147.64 KB

Sports Trivia Fundraiser - THANK YOU!

Last Friday night we had our Representative Sports Trivia Fundraiser held in the school gym. With over 130 people attending the night was very successful raising $379. The aim of this fundraiser for 2026 was to assist in costs to students who partake in school sporting teams and hope to make sport free in 2026. I am so grateful for all the support from our local community businesses who donated to the night with over $7000 worth of prizes to be won in both raffle, on the night games and also table prizes.

I would like to make special thanks to Jenna Attard who organised the raffle prizes as well as Nicole Robinson who assisted me in getting this night up and running. A big thank you also goes to Molly Sumner who assisted on the night, Sue Easter who assisted with finance behind the scenes and all our St Joseph’s staff who attended on the night or bought raffle tickets to support this event.

Thank you to all the parents who attended, I hope you enjoyed the night as much as I did!

Congratulations to all our raffle and prize winners!

Diocesan Volleyball

Our Boys Volleyball Team participated in the Diocesan Championship on September 3rd at Unanderra. It was a learning experience for some of the boys who have not played before, but their training over the past several weeks paid off as the team was able to acquit itself quite admirably, keeping pace with more experienced teams. The boys were able to make it to the first round of the playoffs, but were unable to overcome a very strong team from St. Francis. The boys learned a lot from this year’s experience and are keen to put this into play next year.

MVP: Travis McGeorge (solo setter for every game as well as a defensive presence at the net).

Mr Plattner

On Wednesday 3rd September the boys & girls Joey’s volleyball teams headed to Unanderra Hockey Stadium to compete in the Diocesan championships. This was our second attempt after the original date in Term 2 was postponed due to a power outage at the stadium due to strong winds.

The girls started strongly with an impressive 47-30 win over John Terry. All our training sessions paid off as the girls showed excellent teamwork and serving skills. We unfortunately were not able to get any more wins in our round games as we came up against some very experienced opposition teams. We had Mount Carmel (who finished 1st) and St Mary’s (who finished 2nd) both in our pool which made it very tough as they both had several rep players in their teams.

Our early win meant we qualified for the playoffs where we came up against St Pat’s. After an early deficit we were unable to claw our way back so finished in 8th place.

The girls are to be congratulated for their willingness to learn and train hard over two terms. They displayed excellent behaviour on the day and it was a pleasure to be their coach. As all the team are in years 9,10 and 11, we look forward to coming back next year even stronger.

MVP: Mia Tasevski

NSW South Coast Netball - 9-10 Boys

Our boys’ team represented Joey’s with pride at the South Coast Netball Regional Finals in Nowra, finishing in an impressive 3rd place. The tournament was played under extremely windy conditions, which made passing and shooting particularly challenging.

Despite the tough weather, our players showed great determination, teamwork, and resilience. They adapted quickly and worked hard to maintain possession, while also displaying strong defensive pressure.

The opposing teams were talented and accurate, handling the conditions with skill, which made for some very competitive matches. Our boys rose to the challenge and delivered some great netball across the day. Their sportsmanship was second to none, and they should be very proud of that.

Congratulations to the team on their achievement, and a special thank you to the three umpires who represented Joey’s today. Congratulations to Sienna Kaschubs and Ebony McCloy, who were chosen to umpire a Grand Final game based on their performances earlier in the day.

Player of the Day: Jaedyn Stowers for consistency throughout the day. He was the strength that brought the ball down the court and got so many interceptions throughout the day.

Elite Athlete Program

This week we had our final program excursion to Bai Med for the athletes to complete the post-testing from the program. In Term 4, 2024 students completed the same tests for pre-testing and so this was a great opportunity for them to see their improvement over the past 12 months. Students were screened for strength, flexibility, power and endurance over the day before receiving their results and comparing these with the pre-testing. It was great to see so many students improve from earlier in the program and see their hard work paying off.

We have two more events for the 2024/25 program which are a sport psychology workshop with David Barracosa from Condor Performance and practical cooking nutrition with Embody Nutrition.

Applications for the 2025/26 program are now closed and interviews will take place from next week.

If your child has had sporting success outside of school we want to hear about it.

Please email details through to Miss Power (powers01@dow.catholic.edu.au)

St Joseph’s Sport Instagram Page
For all things sport follow our new social media page.

SJCHS SPORTS

SCHOOL FEES

Thank you to all the families that make such an effort to ensure that their fees are up to date. Your URGENT attention to school fees payments is requested. For those falling behind we urge you to make every effort to bring your account up to date.

For those experiencing financial difficulties, please contact the finance office or email accounts@sjchsdow.catholic.edu.au

Dapto Retail Store

Shop Details:

Address: 2 Marshall Rd, Dapto NSW 2530
Phone: (02) 7259 9200
Email: dapto.retail@permapleat.com.au

• Tuesday 8:00 am - 12:30 pm
• Wednesday 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm
• Thursday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
• Saturday 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Ph: 02 7259 9200

Parking Information:

Customer parking is available at the rear car park on Bong Bong Rd, with a ramp leading directly to the uniform shop. Limited street parking is also available nearby.

Don’t forget that online orders can still be placed through the school website and will continue to be delivered to the school for student collection.

Thank you from Perm-A-Pleat

CatholicCare courses are Now Open for enrolments! Their range of Courses focus on: 

•    strengthening relationships
•    parenting
•    post-separation
•    supporting parents with children in care
•    managing challenging emotions
•    grief and loss

Courses are held in a supportive environment with others who share similar life challenges. 

They are held online or in-person at our Nowra, Campbelltown and Wollongong offices. Please see below flyer which outlines the courses and dates: